INDIANAPOLIS _ Clemson national championship-winning quarterback Deshaun Watson swears he never intended to disrespect the Browns.
While accepting the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award on Feb. 20 in Fort Worth, Texas, Watson looked at Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett in the crowd and joked during his acceptance speech that the Cowboys should trade Dak Prescott and Tony Romo to the Browns for the No. 1 overall pick and draft him. He also poked fun at the Browns' woes by saying "they need two" quarterbacks.
So how would Watson react if the Browns, who also have the 12th pick in April's draft, were to pick him?
"My reaction would be all excited, and I'd really be excited to go up there and play for those guys and (coach) Hue Jackson," Watson said Friday during the NFL scouting combine at the Indiana Convention Center. "But it wasn't a dis or anything like that."
Watson won the Davey O'Brien award in consecutive years. In 2016, he playfully told Garrett if he received the honor again in 2017, the Cowboys had to draft him. So this year, he kidded that Garrett needed to live up to his end of the bargain.
"If you know the whole story, it was a joke that me and Jason Garrett had last year because I won the Davey O'Brien the year before, too," Watson said. "And Davey O'Brien (awards ceremony organizers) are huge Cowboy fans, and they wanted me to joke around and have the crowd excited and get laughs."
Watson received big laughs and played to the crowd when he declared the Browns needed two QBs.
The video of his acceptance speech surfaced online less than two weeks after ESPN footage from December of Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett begging the Cowboys to trade with the Browns and draft him No. 1 overall went viral.
"I think they're both really good guys, and I think at the time it was more having a little fun about it," Jackson said. "If it was something I thought was really serious, then I would be concerned. But I don't think either one of those guys would be concerned about coming to Cleveland and playing. I think, again, it was all in the fun of it."
Jackson spoke to Watson in January about participating in the Senior Bowl, but Watson declined. He would have been coached by Jackson and the Browns as a member of the South team had he accepted his invitation. Watson has insisted he didn't skip the Senior Bowl because he hopes to avoid being picked by the Browns.
"(Jackson and I) had a great conversation, and we talked about the national championship and the season and my participation in the Senior Bowl, just the previous history of getting together, interviewing me and talking through this process we're going through right now," Watson said, adding it took a while to recover from hits he absorbed Jan. 9 in the College Football Playoff title game and his health contributed to his decision to forgo the Senior Bowl.
"The decision was based on me, my family, my agent and my trainer and all of the coaching staff at Clemson. We came to a conclusion that it's best for me to sit out, get healthy and catch up on this whole draft process and getting ready for the combine. So (Jackson) understood that. He knew where I was coming from and there wasn't no hard feelings, and we're all on the same page."
Watson had a formal meeting scheduled for Friday night with the Browns, so he could explain further if needed.
After all, he wants to become the first quarterback to be drafted.
"It's a goal that I wrote down," said Watson, who went 28-2 as a starter the past two seasons at Clemson.
And Watson insisted he wouldn't be intimidated by a downtrodden franchise like the Browns counting on him to reverse its fortunes.
"Being able to have that experience of winning," he said, "maybe it can spread throughout a team and franchise and spread throughout the players and maybe turn a franchise around."
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney thinks Watson would have that effect.
"If (the Browns) pass on Deshaun Watson, they're passing on Michael Jordan," Swinney said at the Senior Bowl.
Watson said the quote made him laugh.
"I thanked him for the compliment," Watson said. "It's pretty cool, but I'm no Michael Jordan. I'm Deshaun Watson. My goal is, for one day, to be able to have people talk about me like they do Michael Jordan."
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